The unnamed Kona wall hanging.

Honeycomb quiltAnd the Honeycomb quilt size has been determined.

95″w x 101″l. That’s a queen for a 20″ deep mattress, when it tucks under the pillow, not over it. Well, that is what I came up with, anyway.

And as huge as it is… It is still one row short. Meaning while it still needs its center seam stitched, the bottom row has to be removed. Because it is a special row. With half hexies. Then the extra row added and the *special* row returned to its rightful place. Me, who always makes *everything* too big, because bigger is somehow better, cut this one short. Bah, at least I cut too many hexies, that’s all I can say….

Remember this? From Amy’s Show Me Your Mess Challenge?

I’m back at it. It has been my focus this week. The design came to me during a meditative/dream session back in February. Really. I pondered it all of March, while traveling, and put most of it together in April. I am just now getting back to it. Still working on the name.

It is made up of Kona cotton solids from leftover projects. I am machine quilting it.

After attempting to hand quilt it.

I tried. I tried hard.

I couldn’t get the density, of quilting, I was looking for with a needle and thread. I’ve used Hobbs Heirloom 80/20 for years and years and never thought about using something else until it came up in for discussion at Celebrate Hand Quilting. Well, Hobbs Heirloom is lovely for machine quilting, but for hand? It takes me back to about 4 stitches per inch and it’s not pretty! But I am loving the looks of it with machine quilting. If I was a more proficient free motion quilter it would be a whole lot faster than using an even feed foot and constantly turning the quilt, sometimes as often as every 1/4″ back and forth, back and forth. But I like the intentional movement I am creating using the even feed. Not sure that is possible any other way. I will persevere. This one is about 49″ square.

Hopefully I’ll have it finished by this time next week. Need to decide on, and make the binding, on top of actually finishing the quilting. And weaving in all those pesky threads… Can’t forget all the tails…

What are you up to this week?

a

Posted in Crafting, Design, fabric, Fabric Tuesday, machine quilting, WIP | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Oh, how my garden grows!

Growing celery pinterestRemember when I told you I had read that you could take the base end of a vegetable, in this case celery, and plant it directly into the ground and have it take root and regrow? If you remember, I soaked the root end, of this organic celery stalk, in a small dish of water, for a couple of days, and saw no evidence of anything. What the heck, I thought. People on Pinterest said it worked to re-grow celery. Others said they had nothing but leaves past ten days. Well, we stuck it in the ground for a definitive answer. 73 days later…

We have celery! Beautiful, crisp celery. Oh, how I love celery! If you know me, you know I eat it almost everyday. There must be some vitamin or trace mineral, in it, that my body craves or maybe it just goes back to my Native American heritage. They were big celery eaters, too. And since there are so many health benefits and relatively no calories… Crunch, crunch, crunch, you can hear me coming!

I actually received celery seeds, as part of a Mother’s Day gift, and decided they took more time, than we had, and possibly more space, than we could allow, so we opted out of planting them, this year. So when I read about planting the part of the vegetable that you generally toss into the compost pile, into a planter instead, I thought it was a brilliant alternative and possibly time saver if this actually would create a plant.

Okay, it’s not a huge stalk, but it is not a huge plant, either. But it is celery. In a pot. The largest ribs are about 5/8″ in diameter. Overall it is about 16″ tall. The leaves are so thick and healthy, very reminiscent of a flat leaf parsley. They are going to be fabulous in a big pot of stock! And the plant isn’t the 4 foot plant, I feared when reading my seed package. And now I’ve cut the cost basis of one celery stalk in half. Or, as I prefer to think of it, buy one, get one free! I’ll take a BOGO deal anyday!

I also have two leeks! These are the same ones as in the first photo. The base part left over from making Asparagus soup. Okay, one is laying down, resting. It’s been a long hot summer. But hey, it works! So successful were the leeks that they even put on scapes. I hear that when they are sautéed they taste like asparagus. We shall see!

It’s looking like I might soon be making a variation of my Potato Leek soup. Celery, Asparagus Leek soup soups good to me!

Cheers!

Posted in Cottage, Gardening, Landscape, Pinterest | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Let’s talk creativity.

Creativity is generally recognized as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.

To be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of those alternatives. The ability to generate alternatives or to see things uniquely does not occur by change; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things heretofore unknown. ~Human Motivation, 3rd ed., by Robert E. Franken

Hmmm…. ambiguity is an interesting word.

am·bi·gu·i·ty/ˌambiˈgyo͞o-itē/
Noun:
A lack of decisiveness or commitment resulting from a failure to make a choice between alternatives.

With that, I think I am on the verge of finding my inner pièce de résistance!

Creativity is...

To me, it feels as if being creative is getting harder and harder because of the internet, and particularly because of Pinterest. My brain is getting clogged with other people’s colorways, layouts and ideas in general. But it is also becoming harder to pretend *you* thought that great idea up, when you see the same quilt over and over and over. Often with the exact same fabrics the originator used.

Still others think of creativity simply as re-arranging what came before, in new and unique ways.

How do you define creativity?

Do we need to reinvent to wheel to feel creative or just create our own,  new version of what came before?

Let’s talk.

Posted in Let's talk, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

How to sew a French Seam.

or as the French call it a “couture anglaise” an English Seam. Hmmm… isn’t that funny?!!

One of the most common searches that brings people to my blog is the phrase How to sew a French seam. I’m not sure how often I’ve talked about them or if it is just random hits because of my blog name. I suspect the latter. And apparently there are a whole lot of people who need to know.

I think we should talk about them.

French seams are quick, simple and clean. Perfect to tidy up the inside of  bag, pouches, and totes. They are especially nice for clothes that will endure lots of washings. This is a perfect technique to use when working with fabrics that tend to fray heavily or if you just want a professional, polished finish without a serger, zigzag or an overlock stitch. With a French Seam all raw edges are completely enclosed. No unraveling.

Let’s get started!

When your pattern calls for a 5/8″ seam, with wrong sides together, take a 1/4″ seam. For me 1/4″ measures from the edge of my sewing machine foot. I know that feels awkward, you don’t want to do it, but be brave, just sew that fabric together opposite of everything you have ever learned. It will be okay.

Now press it open. Isn’t a pressed open seam pretty? It makes me smile.

Now it is time to fold and kiss the right sides together, as you have been taught for most of your sewing career. Press again, this time pressing seam flat.

Press seam flat

Take a 3/8″ seam, just to enclose the previous 1/4″ seam.

1/4″ (first seam) + 3/8″ (second seam) = 5/8″ (how much we originally allowed for the seam). It is as easy as that. Make adjustments, as necessary, if your seam is larger or smaller than 5/8″.

Take a 3/8" seam and you did it!

You did it! A perfectly enclosed seam. No unraveling. It some cases you  might want to press it to one side and then topstitch it as often seen in men’s dress shirts. For my lounge pants leaving as is is just fine.

If you are a regular around here you may have noticed my ironing board cover. No, I did not make a new one as you first thought. But I do have the new fabric, as you can see. Since it needs changed so often, I’m thinking I might just pin it on and be done with it…

Now I’m off to see why making potatoes with nea fitini brings people to my blog…

Have a great day!

Posted in Sewing, Tutorial | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Another one bites the dust.

Anybody out there going to the AQS quilt show in Grand Rapids??? This will be my first big time quilt show. I can’t believe the Paducah show is now the Grand Rapids show, well for the next three years, I’m told. You have until 3 o’clock today to pre-register and buy your tickets. I’m SO excited!!

The Honeycomb quilt is down to the center seam. I was waiting on a final measurement for the width and I’ve got it now. I picked up Kona Ash for the back. 8 yards. Jeesh, that’s a lot of fabric! I’ve chosen the batting, but I’ve yet to decide how to quilt it. Arrgg. I’d like to machine quilt it but it is SO big and I am SO inexperienced at it! It seems so much easier just to hand quilt it, I know how I’d do that… But I really like how Malka did hers. It almost looks like matelassé. And I just now realized I bought Quilters Dream request, not select. Pretty sure I don’t want request? Double Arrggg.

Malka Dubrawsky honeycomb quilt

I’m down to the last few hours of hand quilting the borders of my wall hanging. I decided to just crosshatch it all the way. I tend to mark as I go and was marking in the car and now my rulers have all gradually migrated to the house while I am back at the cottage…. So today I’m off to the grocery store to see if they have any to finish marking this baby. Otherwise I’ll have to find time to go the distance to the quilt shop : )

And I pulled this pretty stack of fabric for a quick project. I was surprised at how many limey greens I had. Many had been cut into, some were just waiting for brilliance to strike! This is possibly my earliest start to any Christmas project, at my house, ever!

I got this pretty little package in the mail this week.

If you paid attention, you’ll recognize it. You’ve seen it in the past, now it’s in the hands of the USPS for the new baby in the family. I hate having to mail packages and wait, and wait, and wait. Then worry whether or not they got it, like it, or even care about hand-made. Not this family, per se, but in general… That’s what you get with living so far away from family…

Posted in 2012 completes, Christmas, fabric, Quilting, WIP | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

If the shoe fits, wear it.

I’m not exactly sure why my friend Rosie, shared this with the whole, wide, world. On my Facebook page nonetheless.

Anyway, that doesn’t matter…

I bought this pattern from ithinksew back in the spring. This is the same company that brought us the fabulous sew along book, One Yard Wonders that so many have sewn along with!  They now have a second book, Fabric-by-Fabric One Yard Wonders that looks great, too!

Anyway… at the time they had the leather, for the soles, on sale. Now it looks like it is the new regular price. Gotta love price rollbacks!

houseshoes pattern

House shoes pattern

Daughter has worn plumb through the slippers we made in December.  Granted, they did have a flannel sole and she does live in them…. And even though winter has long gone, her feet were still cold and we can’t have that…

It was high time I tried my hand at leather sewing. It has been a while. A long while. So long that I have no idea what happened to the leather foot, for my Bernina, but it seems it wasn’t really necessary. This suede is really soft and supple. Parts of it were thicker, parts thinner, just as our own skin is, I suppose. Sewing with it against the surface of the machine, no problem. Sewing with it facing the foot, a little sticky… Either way, I wouldn’t want to do topstitching, where stitch consistency matters. Overall not at issue, but if you have never set in a sole (similar to a sleeve) then leather might not be your best, first choice.

I have to say, I’m not very good at reading directions when sewing. I like to read. I actually love to read. I just like to move faster than stopping to read directions allows! I like to look at the pictures and then just do it. This new slipper pattern was perfect for that. Lots of clear pictures. I say lots. I mean LOTS. Something went awry with my printer and it printed this pattern 3 times and then some. Each pattern is somewhere along the lines of 20 pages. I didn’t realize my printer held so much paper. Or ink….

I digress. This pattern is a PDF and comes with sizes 5-10 and lots of instructions, thus lots of pages. Just print the two or three pattern pages you need for cutting. The actual pattern is only two pieces, except in the larger sizes, where the sole pieces are too large for one sheet of paper and print in halves and then get taped together.

I happened upon this wonderful Asian print and knew I had to buy it. Seriously. It’s a kimono slipper pattern, you know? It’s Bohemian Soul in Letter, (a mottled yellow) Green by Top Drawer.

The pattern calls for 1/2 yard, and since I only used it for the exteriors, there is plenty left for other projects. If you are only doing the exterior you just need a piece 7 x 32″, 1/4 yard is no issue.

This went beautifully with the leather and I picked up 1/4 yard of dark brown Minky for the lining. My first time using Minky. I know! It is perfect for slipper linings. And once again 1/4 yard was plenty for the interior and the top of the inner sole. I used Kona cotton brown for all the other parts that didn’t really matter.

I had some 1/2″ thick, dense, cotton padding, used in upholstery, to line the inner soles with, for extra cushion. It worked well, but needed to be cut down, an extra seam allowance, to make up for its thickness. I think you could easily use 1/2″ green foam for another cushy option.

I added buttons from my Grandma’s button box for added detail. It wasn’t called for, but I like to share Grandma’s buttons whenever I can.

This pattern was easy, precise, fits well and I’m sure we will be making them again.

House shoes pattern, slipper pattern

Because daughter can go through some slippers!

And we won’t even mention her shoe~aholic tendencies….

 

tuesday linky

Posted in A Sttitch in Time, Books, fabric, Fabric Tuesday, Review, Sewing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

What to do, what to do….

So……

Over on Facebook I am really enjoying hanging out with the Celebrate Hand Quilting group. Lots of good hints, tips, recommendations and quilts! Wow, I feel like such a loser when you look at their quilts! I especially like the instant feedback on everything. They are a very encouraging bunch! And so smart!

A few days ago I asked for help on what to do with the border, on this wall hanging, that has been in the works, for quite a while now. The circle quilting is finally complete and who better to go to than my quilty friends both there *and* here.

I pretty much discounted carrying the circles into the border because I think I wanted something different; to showcase, not dilute, what the rest of the quilt was doing. And I think my borders needed to be wider to pull that off.

One suggestion was straight line quilting, 1″ apart, on the inner (rust) border then crosshatching outside of that. The problem is math. Using 1″ straight line quilting, the math just doesn’t allow you match it up and continue on with crosshatching. The crosshatching ends up at about 5/8″. Pretty tight and heavier quilting than the balanced quilting throughout the rest of the piece.

And you can expect the opposite when you reverse it… Nice 1″ crosshatching causes tight straight line quilting, half of which are now hanging mid-air, with nothing to match it up with. I like that it’s tighter and kind of *points* to the quilting on either side, but…. they are just hanging there…

Then I could always just use crosshatching all the way up through both borders and be done with it. Marking and quilting would both be done a whole lot faster!

Or maybe you have another completely different idea.

I have nothing else to quilt on and the Olympics have started. I need help!

What do you think? Any thoughts?

Posted in hand quilting, Quilting, WIP | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Sewfrench's avatarSewfrench

I’ve always said going gluten-free wasn’t that hard, for me. I’ve never been a huge bread lover, like some people. Okay, maybe a nice crusty loaf at a good restaurant, a pizza crust in Chicago, fresh pasta in Italy…. I digress as my stomach rumbles…

And now with BLT season upon us, I am tempted by the smell of toast. But a BLT is not about the toast, it’s about the tomato, in my opinion.

I ♥ tomatoes! And this Ox Heart tomato, weighing it at over a pound, was a delight to sink my teeth in to!

But what is a BLT without bread to wrap it in? It’s still good just wrapped in lettuce, my usual sandwich wrap. But to wrap it in a wheat free bread would be delightful!

Behold, my latest and greatest, gluten-free sandwich wrap! This recipe is a winner! The recipe isn’t mine but the…

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How about an ear-worm to carry you through the day???

Every time I type Honeycomb, this is what gets stuck in my ear. How about you???

Busy living life = not enough time, in the day,  to blog… Ya know???

I should have warned you it would be like this, especially in the height of summer.

Now that things are closer to our normal, I got to spend a few hours piecing on my Honeycomb quilt. It’s coming. I may even have even been heard saying “this one is a pretty quick one to put together”.

I was kidding.

Myself.

This…

plus this

Equals a really big quilt.

Hopefully before next Wednesday I will have decided between a queen or king. Until then, I just keep plugging away!

Posted in Quilting, Sewing, video, WIP | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Oh Happy Day!

I’ve always said going gluten-free wasn’t that hard, for me. I’ve never been a huge bread lover, like some people. Okay, maybe a nice crusty loaf at a good restaurant, a pizza crust in Chicago, fresh pasta in Italy…. I digress as my stomach rumbles…

And now with BLT season upon us, I am tempted by the smell of toast. But a BLT is not about the toast, it’s about the tomato, in my opinion.

I ♥ tomatoes! And this Ox Heart tomato, weighing it at over a pound, was a delight to sink my teeth in to!

But what is a BLT without bread to wrap it in? It’s still good just wrapped in lettuce, my usual sandwich wrap. But to wrap it in a wheat free bread would be delightful!

Behold, my latest and greatest, gluten-free sandwich wrap! This recipe is a winner! The recipe isn’t mine but the bread I created is! It was actually developed by Kate, over at Gobsmacked. And boy does she do some good-looking gluten-free cooking. And thank goodness she loves to share and encourages us all to spread to goodness!

I’ve tried several recipes, around the web, and have come up with lots of interesting breads and several that turned out to be crackers, but this one did exactly what it said it would and was exactly what I was hoping for. It is soft and pliable but firm enough that it isn’t fragile. And it stays fresh for more than a day, unlike most breads I’ve made. Heck, three or four days later it’s still fresh feeling!

I love the ability to swap out flours and seasonings based on what I have on hand, too.

Every time I make it, it is my new favorite flavor, LOL!

Gluten Free, Whole Grain, Sandwich Wraps
printer friendly recipe

Recipe makes one jelly roll pan of wraps
(while you’ve got all the flours out, you might as well mix up enough for another batch!)

1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup millet flour (I used Quinoa)
1/4 cup potato starch (NOT flour)
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 TBS yeast
2 TBS powdered buttermilk or non-dairy powdered milk (Soy powdered milk works for the dairy-free)
2 tsp xanthan gum
3/4 cup of warm water (+/- TBS of water depending on the weather)
1 1/2 tsp agave nectar (or honey or even sugar)
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cracked black pepper*
3/4 tsp cumin*
3/4 tsp dill*
3/4 tsp fennel*

*Feel free to omit the seasonings (but not the salt) if you prefer a plain flavor. I found the herbs to be an amazing addition, for my sandwiches.

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

Mix together the dry ingredients in the bowl of your mixer – sorghum, millet, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, yeast, powdered buttermilk, salt and optional seasonings.

Mix together the water (start with 3/4 cup), agave nectar, olive oil and vinegar.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and mix on low until blended. The dough should not resist the beaters and bounce around in the bowl but rather be more of a soft cookie dough – maybe even a bit more wet.

Beat the dough on high for no more than 2 minutes.

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper or use a Silpat. Spread the dough as thinly as possible to cover the 10 x 15″ jelly roll pan. I used a silicone spatula and spread all the way to the orange line of my Silpat. After it was spread, pretty good, it had relaxed enough, I know GF doughs don’t really “relax”, but it loosened up enough to spread even more smoothly. If you are struggling, you could dip your spatula in water to spread with. I hear some people have been known to add extra water to where it was almost pourable, then just cooked it longer. I haven’t tried that yet because spreading this smoothly isn’t really a big deal.

Bake at 400°F for 13-16 minutes until the top begins to brown and the edges are browned. It  been 16 minutes, on the nose, every time I’ve made it. Let cool completely before storing in an airtight bag. If there is any left after lunch….

I rolled it with a piece of parchment paper while it was still warm, to give it a nice shape. After it’s cooled, I take a pair of scissors and cut off the size and shape, I need, depending on what I am going to eat with it.

Adding a thick smear of ripe avocado ups your healthy fats, and flavor, while cutting down on the amount of mayo needed to make for a drippy, luscious sandwich. And eating a BLT, as a wrap, has the added bonus of nothing slipping off one of the sides!

Non, non, nom!

Cheers!

Posted in Cooking, Dairy free, Eating, Favorite Things, Gluten Free, Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments